Current GHG emissions policy environment and implications for Best Management Practices
Wednesday 5 July
Chair: Charlie Walker, Incitec Pivot Fertilisers, Australia
The GHG emissions policy environment in the European Union
Speaker: Dr Kevin Hicks, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, UK
Practical tools and BMPs available to farmers and agronomists to minimise N fertiliser related GHGs in Australian conditions
Speaker: Dr Rob Norton, University of Melbourne, Australia
Practical tools and BMPs available to farmers and agronomists to minimise N fertiliser related GHGs in European conditions
Speaker: Alastair Leake, The Allerton Project, UK (TBC)
Following the presentations there will be a panel discussion, for which the speakers will be joined by Dr Debra Turner, CSBP, Australia.
Dr Kevin Hicks
Kevin Hicks has been a researcher at SEI’s York centre since 1997 and served as deputy director between 2014 and 2018. His research interests cover air pollution impacts, especially of nitrogen, on terrestrial ecosystems from local to global scales, air pollution issues in developing countries, linkages between air pollution and climate change, and the transfer of scientific information to the policy process. He was the European Director of the International Nitrogen Initiative from 2016 to 2022.
Dr Rob Norton
Dr Rob Norton has expertise in crop nutrition, farming systems and agronomy. He worked in education, graduate training and research with The University of Melbourne where he holds an adjunct position. Following a role as regional director for the International Plant Nutrition Institute, he has been engaged soil fertility projects in Africa as well as local consultancies to a range of public and private organisations. He holds a PhD in crop agronomy and has authored 150 refereed scientific publications, as well as many more articles for industry. On his retirement from full-time employment in 2018, his contribution was recognised with awards from the Grains Research and Development Corporation and Fertilizer Australia.
Alastair Leake
Alastair Leake has a BSc in Horticultural Science and PhD in Organic and Integrated Farming Systems. He worked for 20 years for the Co-operative Farms (FamCare), initially as a Production Manager in glasshouse salad crops specialising in IPM, then headed up the company’s ground-breaking farming systems research.
He is now head of GWCT’s 300 ha Allerton Research and Demonstration farm in Leicestershire, where intensive farming and exceptional levels of biodiversity co-exist. The LEAF Innovation farm is involved in several high profile & innovative research projects focusing on Conservation Agriculture and sustainable soil management.
As GWCT Director of Policy Alastair is responsible for embedding GWCT’s farmland ecology work into Government policy. He is actively involved in shaping Defra’s Environmental Land Management scheme. He also runs a popular All-Party Parliamentary discussion Group in Westminster.
Alastair has served as a Board Member of a number of organisations involved in farming including NIABTAG, Rothamsted Research, The Royal Agricultural Society and LEAF..
Dr Debra Turner
Deb graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2010 with a PhD that studied agricultural nitrogen emissions including ammonia, nitrous oxide and NOx. This spanned work in cropping, dairy, and livestock settings in Australia and China in collaboration with several universities and research institutions and the private sector.
Deb has held a number of international soil and nutrient management positions including the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. Her activities included working with the Global Soil Partnership and the fertiliser industry to develop the International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers.
After returning to Australia she joined CSBP in August 2022 as Senior Sustainable Agriculture Advisor.